after a long break from MtG i finally found my way back (thanks MtG Arena). I got my old playground back together and convinced them of playing commander. The next step is already planned: as we like to draft, I'm currently building a Commander Cube.
Through all this, and MtG Arenas Special Events, an old idea of mine came up again: Modifying the game with static effects / modifiers / emblems
It's actually a quite old idea, concieved somewhere around Kamigawa Block, when we were mostly playing Fat Stack with our useless piles of rares (before we got into EDH) (For those who don't know, Fat Stack is a casual MtG format that uses any pile of cards you have lying around. Just shuffele them up, provide an aditional stack of lands and start playing. All players draw from the same deck and have the choice between drawing from the spell or land deck for each draw. It's quite fun, and always has a quite balanced power level without any deck/cube building effort)
At this time, I tried to spice up those (slowly beginning to get boring) games by utilizing a few choice cards, picked at random for each game, to modify the game. We'd have a stack of about 20 of those at hand, drawing 1-4 for a match. They would have had an effect on the game for its entire duration - quite simliar to how the emblems work in MtG Arenas current special formats.
To give you a better Idea of what I'm talking about, here's a few old ideas:
As you can see, they would have an lasting effect on the game, changing the rules by quite a bit, bringing freshness to any format thats starting to get stale. Like emblems, the would not be allowed to interact with, and for the cards with activated abilities, we mostly limited them to once per turn. If a card would say "your" or something like this, it was understood that it applied to all players just the same.
Anyway, I'd like to unpack this Idea once again in my playgroup, and was hoping to find some suggestions for nice modifiers.
The Effects should be printed on an existing card or emblem, be either symmetrical or be applicable to all players for the same effect without thinking too much outside the box.
gonna bump your post, because it has been a huge insiration to me, as I'm trying to build a EDH-Cube right now.
Took your approach to General selection and your Generals as starting point, did a huge ammount of maths to figure out color, card type and "effect of card" ratios, and went ham on EDHrec from there - results may be posted soon on here.
But I'd like to ask a few questions:
About Drafting: you just wrote something along the lines of "draft as usual".... can you elaborate more on this? How many packs of how many cards from the non-general-cube ?
As for lands, I really like your Idea of giving any number of tapped duals. Gonna implement this, too. But I'm toying around with the idea of having an extra draft round or two with only lands at the end (maybe instead of unlimited tapped duals), maybe like 2 packs of 8 lands each, only color fixing lands though, while putting all the utility lands in the main draft pool. What do you think about this?
As for building your cube, what is your approach for supporting the commander archetypes? As I said, I started with your commander list, updated it to my needs and added more generals (went up to 86, added a few archetypes). Fpr setting up the cube i went to EDHrec and started with the average deck lists for every commander, then tweaking it as seemed fit...
How did you approach the thought process of this? Any pointers as to how to find enought synergy for each strategy / each general?
For reference, here's my list of Generals. Most notably I created a category of "Open" generals, as I like to have a few generals that can be build mostly any way the players like, to help those undecided fools to still end up with a viable deck. I went with 2 of each color, 4 of each guild, 3 of each wedge / shard and a few of 4C and Rainbow. Most notably, I added most of the 2-Color Gods, because i just like them. I'll make sure to include enough removal options for them, but IÄll keep your experience with those in the back of my head.
after a long break from MtG i finally found my way back (thanks MtG Arena). I got my old playground back together and convinced them of playing commander. The next step is already planned: as we like to draft, I'm currently building a Commander Cube.
Through all this, and MtG Arenas Special Events, an old idea of mine came up again:
Modifying the game with static effects / modifiers / emblems
It's actually a quite old idea, concieved somewhere around Kamigawa Block, when we were mostly playing Fat Stack with our useless piles of rares (before we got into EDH) (For those who don't know, Fat Stack is a casual MtG format that uses any pile of cards you have lying around. Just shuffele them up, provide an aditional stack of lands and start playing. All players draw from the same deck and have the choice between drawing from the spell or land deck for each draw. It's quite fun, and always has a quite balanced power level without any deck/cube building effort)
At this time, I tried to spice up those (slowly beginning to get boring) games by utilizing a few choice cards, picked at random for each game, to modify the game. We'd have a stack of about 20 of those at hand, drawing 1-4 for a match. They would have had an effect on the game for its entire duration - quite simliar to how the emblems work in MtG Arenas current special formats.
To give you a better Idea of what I'm talking about, here's a few old ideas:
As you can see, they would have an lasting effect on the game, changing the rules by quite a bit, bringing freshness to any format thats starting to get stale. Like emblems, the would not be allowed to interact with, and for the cards with activated abilities, we mostly limited them to once per turn. If a card would say "your" or something like this, it was understood that it applied to all players just the same.
Anyway, I'd like to unpack this Idea once again in my playgroup, and was hoping to find some suggestions for nice modifiers.
The Effects should be printed on an existing card or emblem, be either symmetrical or be applicable to all players for the same effect without thinking too much outside the box.
Thanks for any and all suggestions
Raketenudo
gonna bump your post, because it has been a huge insiration to me, as I'm trying to build a EDH-Cube right now.
Took your approach to General selection and your Generals as starting point, did a huge ammount of maths to figure out color, card type and "effect of card" ratios, and went ham on EDHrec from there - results may be posted soon on here.
But I'd like to ask a few questions:
About Drafting: you just wrote something along the lines of "draft as usual".... can you elaborate more on this? How many packs of how many cards from the non-general-cube ?
As for lands, I really like your Idea of giving any number of tapped duals. Gonna implement this, too. But I'm toying around with the idea of having an extra draft round or two with only lands at the end (maybe instead of unlimited tapped duals), maybe like 2 packs of 8 lands each, only color fixing lands though, while putting all the utility lands in the main draft pool. What do you think about this?
As for building your cube, what is your approach for supporting the commander archetypes? As I said, I started with your commander list, updated it to my needs and added more generals (went up to 86, added a few archetypes). Fpr setting up the cube i went to EDHrec and started with the average deck lists for every commander, then tweaking it as seemed fit...
How did you approach the thought process of this? Any pointers as to how to find enought synergy for each strategy / each general?
For reference, here's my list of Generals. Most notably I created a category of "Open" generals, as I like to have a few generals that can be build mostly any way the players like, to help those undecided fools to still end up with a viable deck. I went with 2 of each color, 4 of each guild, 3 of each wedge / shard and a few of 4C and Rainbow. Most notably, I added most of the 2-Color Gods, because i just like them. I'll make sure to include enough removal options for them, but IÄll keep your experience with those in the back of my head.
1 Breya, Etherium Shaper
1 Daretti, Scrap Savant
1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
1 Muzzio, Visionary Architect
1 Saheeli, the Gifted
//Blink
1 Brago, King Eternal
1 Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
1 Roon of the Hidden Realm
1 Yarok, the Desecrated
1 Yeva, Nature's Herald
//Control
1 Child of Alara
1 Damia, Sage of Stone
1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
1 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
1 Phenax, God of Deception
1 Pramikon, Sky Rampart
1 Sen Triplets
//Cheat
1 Animar, Soul of Elements
1 Jhoira of the Ghitu
1 Mayael the Anima
1 Narset, Enlightened Master
1 Prime Speaker Vannifar
1 Zur the Enchanter
//Graveyard
1 Chainer, Nightmare Adept
1 Karador, Ghost Chieftain
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
1 The Scarab God
1 Karlov of the Ghost Council
1 Licia, Sanguine Tribune
1 Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
//Ramp
1 Karametra, God of Harvests
1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
1 Lord Windgrace
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Omnath, Locus of Rage
1 The Gitrog Monster
//Aristocrats
1 Athreos, God of Passage
1 Brion Stoutarm
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
1 Lyzolda, the Blood Witch
1 Marchesa, the Black Rose
1 Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
1 Shattergang Brothers
1 Thromok the Insatiable
//Spells Matter
1 Elsha of the Infinite
1 Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
1 Melek, Izzet Paragon
1 Taigam, Ojutai Master
1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
1 Wort, the Raidmother
//Go Wide
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Emmara Tandris
1 Ephara, God of the Polis
1 Ghave, Guru of Spores
1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
1 Marath, Will of the Wild
1 Nahiri, the Lithomancer
1 Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
1 Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle
1 Rafiq of the Many
1 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
1 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
//Aggro
1 Iroas, God of Victory
1 Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
1 Odric, Master Tactician
1 Queen Marchesa
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
//Hate
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
//Politics
1 Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
1 Selvala, Explorer Returned
1 Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
//Open
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
1 Niv-Mizzet Reborn
1 Ramos, Dragon Engine
1 Riku of Two Reflections